Leahy in Indonesia: Damned if You Do (and Even if You Don't).

In preparation for his impending visit to Indonesia, President Barack Obama is considering the paradoxical question of military reengagement with the Indonesian army's Special Forces Command (called KOPASSUS). An important part of this policy calculus is based on the current laws to deny military and law enforcement training to known foreign human rights violators, collectively known as the “Leahy Laws.” However, the text of the Leahy Laws considers neither the natural changes in the make-up of military units nor the important reforms the Indonesian armed forces have made in its own training and advocacy of human rights practices. A closer look at how the law is applied reviles that U.S.-Indonesia policy in general—and military-to-military relations in particular—are unnecessarily damaged by the Leahy Laws and details the consequences of good intentions gone awry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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